There are numerous exercise devices, and in particular, a number of exercise cycles. Most exercise cycles are designed to condition the legs. A popular exercise to condition the legs is spinning, using a spinning bike. A spinning bike is a stationary exercise bike that includes a frame, a seat, handlebars, brake mechanism, pedals, and a flywheel connected to the pedals, typically without a clutch mechanism between the pedals and the flywheel. It is a very good exercise device for conditioning the legs, in part, because the pedals rotate when the flywheel is rotating, and vice-versa. Force is required to be applied to the pedals to accelerate the rate of rotation of the spinning flywheel, and force is required to be applied to the pedals to decelerate the rate of rotation of the spinning flywheel, thereby requiring effort on the part of the operator to accelerate and decelerate the flywheel.
There are fewer options for upper body exercise cycles. An example of one type of device designed to exercise the arms is an upper body ergometer (UBE) that uses hand pedals attached to crank arms to drive the rotation of a flywheel.
A first type of upper body ergometer is designed to accelerate a flywheel when force is applied to the hand pedals to rotate the crank arms in a first direction, and to decelerate the flywheel when force is applied to the hand pedals in a second reverse direction. The hand pedals rotate when the flywheel is spinning, and the flywheel spins when the hand pedals are rotating. The first type of upper body ergometer is similar in function to spinning bikes used for conditioning the legs.
A second type of upper body ergometer is designed with a clutch mechanism so that rotation of the hand pedals to rotate the crank arms in a first direction will accelerate the flywheel, while rotation of the hand pedals in the opposite direction will cause the crank arms to freewheel. The second type of upper body ergometer is similar to many road bikes which impart rotation to the rear wheel when the crank arms are rotated in a first direction, but which allow the crank arms to spin freely when crank arms are rotated in the reverse direction.
The first type of upper body ergometer, where the hand pedals are forced to spin any time the flywheel is spinning, provides a very good upper body exercise, because the operator expends energy and effort to both increase and decrease the rate of rotation of the flywheel. One disadvantage of the first type of upper body ergometer is that the spinning flywheel continues to spin the hand pedals, and there is inertia stored in the flywheel. The more inertia that is stored in the flywheel, the harder it is for an operator to decelerate the rotation of the hand pedals. If an operator desires to stop spinning the hand pedals, or if the operator's arms get tired, the operator must either apply a lot of effort to force the flywheel and hand pedals to stop spinning, or the operator must let go of the hand pedals and wait for friction to slow the flywheel and hand pedals to a stop.
A foot-operated brake mechanism can be used to slow or stop the rotation of the hand pedals and flywheel, but a foot-operated brake mechanism may not be a desirable solution, as upper body ergometers are often used by operators who are disabled or otherwise unable to use their legs. A hand-operated brake mechanism can be used to slow or stop the rotation of the hand pedals and flywheel, but a hand-operated brake mechanism may not be a desirable solution either, as the operator already has both hands engaged in operation of the hand pedals. The first type of upper body ergometer therefore has disadvantages.
The second type of upper body ergometer is designed to accelerate a flywheel when the hand pedals are operated to rotate the crank arms in a first direction, but to allow the crank arms to freewheel when the hand pedals are operated to rotate the crank arms in a second reverse direction. The second type of upper body ergometer provides the benefit of exercising the upper body, while allowing the operator to stop rotating the hand pedals at any time. One disadvantage of the second type of upper body ergometer is a lack of variety in the exercise, as the design limits the exercise to rotating the hand pedals under load around a single closed loop path moving in a single direction. Another disadvantage of the second type of upper body ergometer is that the muscles utilized during the course of the exercise only fire in one specific sequence as the operator rotates the pedals under load around a single closed loop path moving in a single direction. A third disadvantage of the second type of upper body ergometer is that the muscles utilized during the course of the exercise are exercised less effectively due to the fact that the muscles are restricted to pushing at specific locations along the path of travel of the hand pedals, and pulling at other specific location along the path of travel of the hand pedals.
A need remains for an exercise apparatus to exercise an operator's upper body, without the disadvantages described above.